Shame

Brandon is a successful advertising executive in his thirties living in New York. Outwardly he appears charming and self-assured, but he hides a compulsive addiction to sex that governs his private life without ever giving him real satisfaction. His carefully separated existence is disrupted when his younger sister Sissy, emotionally fragile and unable to look after herself, moves into his apartment for a while. Her presence brings back painful memories the two share, and Brandon finds himself increasingly unable to keep his two lives apart as his need to control the situation slips away from him.

Steve McQueen directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Abi Morgan, following his debut Hunger. Michael Fassbender plays Brandon and Carey Mulligan plays Sissy; James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Lucy Walters and Mari-Ange Ramirez appear in supporting roles. The production, from Lipsync Productions, Film4 Productions, HanWay Films and the UK Film Council, was made for about 7 million dollars. It is the second of six features McQueen has directed, between 12 Years a Slave, Widows, Occupied City and Blitz. Against a worldwide box office of roughly 4 million dollars, audiences rate it 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb and 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB, while a critics' rating stands at 7.5 out of 10.